The Resettlement of British Columbia: Essays on Colonialism and Geographical Change

Joseph Leydon teaches geography at the University of Toronto.

Most British Columbians view their European ancestors not as colonizers
but as people who tamed the wilderness and brought civilization to
western Canada. Cole Harris challenges this self-serving view of history
by presenting a reassessment of the precontact Native populations, by
investigating the impact of introduced European diseases (specifically,
smallpox), and by displaying the ways in which the Native landscape was
devastated through the strategies of colonialism and imperialism.

The book comprises nine essays, six of which are revised versions of
previously published papers. The first six chapters examine the Native
landscape and the changes it underwent following the arrival of the
Europeans, while the remaining three chapters focus on the creation of a
European landscape. The author is first and foremost a geographer. He is
at his best when exploring issues of landscape change and when using
many of the beautifully illustrated maps to reinforce geographic themes.
Elsewhere, he adopts a multidisciplinary approach that should appeal to
historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists. To
the benefit of the general reader, academic jargon and terminology are
kept to a minimum.

This book contains valuable information on precontact populations and
raises interesting questions about issues of colonial strategy and power
relations. More generally, it serves as a useful reminder of the fact
that the history of Canada did not begin with the arrival of peoples
from Europe.